Eleven seconds
by Eviljoey
Summary: Two weeks after the end of season 4A, Regina, the mighty and feared Evil Queen, falls. One-shot.


Two weeks after the end of season 4A, Regina, the mighty and feared Evil Queen, falls.

She'd just gone for a walk. A quick stroll. Instead of taking her precious car, she decided to walk to the Charming loft. It was a nice and clear autumn-day, here and there a small cloud but nothing that took away the sun for more than eleven seconds. Not incredibly uncommon for a state like Maine, but Regina loved these days non the less. The streets were still wet from the rain that fell last night and without a coat it could be a bit chilly, but that wouldn't bother Madam Major. With her gloved hands in her pockets, resisting the urge to put on sunglasses, she closed her eyes just for a second and took a deep breath. All was well.

One Mississippi

Should she have known bad things were about to happen? Perhaps. If she'd seen the bad-luck signs, would she've stayed home? Perhaps. A cup of tea and a magazine is also a nice way to spend the afternoon. But matter of fact is, she didn't. She didn't notice the fallen salt-shaker, the one she'd knocked over during breakfast. And when she'd chased away the cat of the neighbors, the black, ratty-looking thing that insists on pissing on her lawn-chairs, she hadn't considered it's color. She'd even cracked her phone-screen and thought nothing of it. A wave of her hand had fixed it. And when she went for her walk, she almost purposely stepped on all the cracks. All of this put together would've looked suspicious to any other person but Regina. She didn't care. She thought she had her faith in her own hands. And once she'd found the author, she would've had her happy ending too.

Two Mississippi

All these bad luck signs don't necessarily have to mean a thing, but the screeching tires, those should've tipped her off. When she turned her head and saw a black car coming near she should've used her magic. She should've jumped out of the way. She should've done one small step to the right and she'd been safe. But she didn't use her magic. She hadn't jumped out of the way. She hadn't even moved one small step to the right.

Three Mississippi

It all went fast after that. Not for Regina, but for the people around her. Townspeople, she'd always figured wouldn't care if she was in pain, might even've rooted for it, ran to her side. A single nurse started giving instructions while people were yelling and children were crying. From a distance a sirene could be heard, one that got louder by the second but it didn't register for Regina. Emma Swan was on site within minutes too, before the ambulance got there. She'd been close by, at Grannies. When one of the dwarfs had tipped her off she didn't waste a second and ran to the yellow monstrosity she called her car. While the nurse took care of the bleeding, Emma kneeled next to Regina and touched her upper-arm. "Don't go anywhere okay?" She told the Major. "Stay right here." And Regina smiled. Not because of what Emma said or the fact that people seemed to genuinely care for her, but because the pain had finally gone away. The excruciating pain that had been tearing her legs open from the inside out had finally left her body. All the saw was the lovely weather, the blue skies and the small clouds. The sun in her left eye-corner, half blocked sometimes, by the mass, but it was there. The faces of the people around her started to blur. The people on the outside were the first to go, then the five dwarfs that had been keeping people at a distance, next was the face of the nurse and then Emma's. She still heard people calling her name, telling her to hold on. But it didn't sound like voices anymore. It was more like soft music playing. And the sound got lower and lower until she could just make out the piano notes. All was well.

Four Mississippi

Her leg was bend at an awkward angle. Her left arm was draped across her stomach and her right arm pointed up. The glove on her right hand had stayed on tight but the left was gone. Probably removed by the nurse to check her blood-pressure. Her chest was still strongly moving up and down when Emma arrived. But even her breathing was becoming weaker and weaker. Her eyes got glossy and it looked like life had left her for a moment before she closed them. But then she took a deep breath and her fingers started moving. As though she was playing the piano.

Five Mississippi

The medical staff didn't waste a second. Regina was strapped down to the gurney before Emma even realized they were here. Before anyone else could offer, the blonde had jumped into the ambulance and rode with them to the hospital. "She's still breathing" and "Her heartbeat is steady" were sentences repeated over and over. All Emma could think was, if only'd been her. Regina had magic. She could've easily healed anyone. If only Gold were still here. He could've easily healed anyone. But it was only Emma. And Emma could light a candle and levitate a book. If she focussed really hard. So it was up to modern medicine to save her. But Emma didn't place much trust in that.

Six Mississippi

Snow and David arrived ten minutes later. Her mother immediately going to the front desk to enquire about Regina's condition. It was no use, there was no new information. And David went to his daughter, wrapped his arms around her shoulders and cradled her head. "It's going to be fine. She's going to be fine." He told her. She has too much to live for now. Henry was taking care of Neal for a while, Belle would be over shortly and then she would take the boys here in the morning, to say 'good-morning' to Regina. Snow smiled at that. What she didn't know was that Regina was already asleep. Her heart was beating slowly and she was in a better place. Every so often she would hear 'clear!' and 'she stopped breathing' but she didn't' care. A muscular arm was wrapped around her and she looked to her left, expecting to see her father. Or Daniel. Or her mother even. But when he kissed her cheek and she felt a slight stubble and he said her name with a soft British accent, she knew. "Hey."

"Hey."

"Is Daniel here too?"

"Not here. He's on the other side."

"The other side?" She asked. He nodded. "Okay then." She snuggled up to him, reveled in his arms and kissed his chin. She'd never felt calmer and she knew she'd been here before. Three times actually. Once as a child, the fever had her dying and her mother's best efforts had been useless. She'd drifted off to sleep and it had all been fine. And then she woke up again, soaking wet and ice-cold. The second time was after her husband King had pushed her off the bed and she'd fallen on the ground and hit her head in the wrong place. It was only a split second, but it was a lovely second non the less. And then a last time when Rumplestiltskin had run her through with a spear and told her to heal herself. She failed.

Seven Mississippi

She was dying, she realized. The voices in the background started to fade away more and more while the light in the distance came closer by the second. "Robin." She whispered. "I'm have to go." He looked at her, a bit confused but then he smiled and kissed her temple. "I have to wake up." And Robin shook his head.

"Don't." He tells her. "Stay a little while longer." And she closed her eyes again, loving the feeling. She was safe and loved and Robin was here. Why should she go? She was here now and he was too. And once, in a far away future, Henry would be here too. So she smiled and nestled herself into his arms just a bit more.

_Regina _A familiar voice. _Please don't go._ Another one. _Mom?_

Eight Mississippi

Somewhere in Boston, a former outlaw woke up with a jump. He took a few quick breaths and looked to his left. His son, safe and sound next to his wife on the bed. The boy softly snoring and Marian's silent whimper every now and then. It was still dark. He smiled. And then the grave reality hit him. He quickly pulled on his pants and struggled with his boots as he moved from one side of the room to the other, grabbing all his phone. He silently snuck out of the hotelroom and called Regina. She didn't answer.

"Emma?" He asked. "Emma, it's Robin."

"Robin?" She asked, her voice trembling with emotion. "What are you.. are you... Why are you calling me?"

He took a breath. "I had the most awful dream. How's Regina? Is she okay?"

It was quiet for a little while. "Regina was hit by a car. She... She's not doing too well, Robin."

"When?" He whispered.

"Yesterday-morning. She came out of surgery last night but she's been rushed back a few times. They haven't told us what's wrong with her." It obviously upset her. "She's not doing well." She repeated. "But she might pull through. You never know with these things..." She sighed. "I'll keep you updated, okay?"

He nodded, knowing nobody could see him. "Okay."

_Okay_

Nine Mississippi

A fractured skull. A broken leg. A punctured lung. Broken and severely bruised ribs. A dislocated shoulder. A broken jaw. A broken nose. A fractured eye-socket. A broken wrist. Two broken fingers. The car must've hit her in the back, strangely. The blow would've smacked her face into the pavement, probably causing most of the facial injuries and then she'd gotten twisted and turned by the weals, leaving her a mangled human being. How she's still alive, it's a miracle. And that's how the Charming family look at her, a full two days after the accident, when they're finally allowed to see her. Her face is black and blue. Some sort of contraption, a contraption which can only be described as the worst braces in history, is keeping her jaw together. Her hair had been shaven off and replaced with a white bandage. Something Regina was going to hate when she woke up, Snow said. She had a cast on her left wrist and another one on her left leg.

"When she wakes up, she's going to heal herself. Nobody will ever see the scars." David told Henry. "And then she's going to tell us we were all exaggerating. Making mountains out of mole-hills."

The boy smiled quietly. But the smile disappeared when Dr. Whale entered the room.

"Well." He started. "She's still here."

"We already know the damage." David said, uncomfortably.

Whale nodded. "The physical damage, yes. But there's mental damage too. And there is something else. Maybe Henry should leave the room for this." Snow immediately agreed, whereas David objected. Emma stayed quiet in the corner. "Henry, please." Whale said. And then, surprisingly, he nodded. He stood up, grabbed his bag and left the room, escorted by Belle.

"What is this 'else'?" Snow asked.

Whale bit his lip. "Please sit down." And they did. "Regina is probably not going to wake up anymore. And if she will, she's going to be blind, most likely paralyzed from the waist down. She might not be able to speak properly anymore. And that is if she has no physiological trauma." He sighed. "In my professional opinion I'd wait for a week or two, after that chances are she's not waking up at all. That said, I'm going to try my best to wake her up, to ensure her physiological and physical health and make her as comfortable as possible."

"But you don't think she'll wake up."

He shook his head. "No, I don't think so."

"So we're going to have to pull the plug? Probably two weeks from now?"

He nodded. "Yes, well, here's the kicker. Regina still being alive is a miracle. But there's another, small, very small miracle." He said as he looked at his patient. "Regina is pregnant."

"Still?"

"The baby lives." Whale said.

Snow looked at Emma, as baffled as anyone. "Does Regina know?"

"I don't think so." Emma said. "She hasn't said anything to me." She turned to Whale. "Can the baby live? If she's comatose?"

"We'll have to deliver it very early, but yes."

Ten Mississippi

Robin had hurried himself to Storybrooke, when Emma told him. And he stood by her side, looking at the slight swell of her stomach. A swell that had gotten bigger every day. Time passed fast and before anyone knew it, Regina was seven months along and Whale didn't want to wait any longer. He performed a C-section on a Wednesday-afternoon. It was a lovely day, not a single cloud. The weather was perfect, a bit frisky sometimes, spring had only just started, but the sun declared it was a beautiful day. Snow and David had taken Henry to the hospital and Emma and Killian followed an hour later, just in time to meet a beautiful baby-girl. Robin held her first, he smiled at his daughter and kissed her forehead.  
Snow was the second to hold her, it was her step-sister after all. Henry decided he was next. He was the brother. No step- or half- or adopted-, just the brother. And as he held his sister, Emma held Henry. They sat like that for an hour or so, but it felt like ten seconds. Whale came and joined them in the evening, to tell them Regina was still the same, recovering in her room. They nodded and followed him, knowing it would probably be one of the last times. Regina was still asleep, if you could call it that, surrounded by beeping machines, that helped her breathe and eat. Snow approached her stepmother, brushed her short locks out of her face and held up the baby.

"Look, Regina." She said, before she lowered the body of the baby in the cradle of Regina's arm. The child, that had been silent so far, whimpered and grabbed Regina's thumb with her small hands. And then Regina curled her fingers around her daughter.

Eleven Mississippi

When she finally fully regain consciousness, two weeks after the birth of her daughter, she didn't believe anyone who told her she'd been asleep for more than five months. Who was she? Sleeping beauty? It couldn't have been more than an a minute, an hour tops. And when she heard about her injuries and what Whale thought would've happened, she snorted, refusing to admit she was in fact blind in one eye. She then tried to get out of bed and had to be restricted by two nurses, the Charmings and Robin. She'd huffed but then resumed to seeing what other injuries she'd sustained. Her thigh was scarred. She'd broken the bone, they told her. Her wrist felt stiff. And she'd broken that one too, they admitted. And then she asked about the fresh-looking scar on her stomach and they were silent.

"Well..." Snow said. "You, kinda, had a baby..."

Regina shook her head. "No, what are you blabbering about? A baby?"

David nodded, in conformation with his wife. "A girl." He looked at Snow. "I'll go fetch her."

A few minutes later Regina held the baby, not yet completely sure it wasn't a joke. But when she studied the face of the infant she recognized traces of herself. Except for the eyes. The eyes were obviously Robin's. "Does she have a name?" She asked.

"We thought you were going to die..." Snow said.

"So you named her for me." Regina finished. "Let's hear it."

Snow shook her head. "You moved. After she was born we placed her in your arms and for the first time in half a year, you moved. And so we knew we couldn't name her." Snow snorted. "You might've injured us."

"What would you've named her." Regina asked and Snow stayed quiet. "Not 'Regina', right?" Snow remained quiet. "Snow..."

The princess coughed. "There were three names we were considering. You name, obviously..." Regina growled. "Then maybe 'Cora'."

"I woke up just in time..."

"Or Danielle."

Regina sighed. "Well, I suppose I can sleep on it. For a while."


End file.
